


Listening With No Intent to Reply

by Im_The_Doctor (Bofur1)



Category: Transformers: Prime
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Character Study, Cybertronian War, Gen, Grief/Mourning, I'm Bad At Summaries, Male Friendship, Silence, biography
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-05
Updated: 2014-05-05
Packaged: 2018-01-22 01:58:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1571852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bofur1/pseuds/Im_The_Doctor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>My name has a specific meaning, one that dates back to the day I was deemed a living sparkling:<br/>I have always been an echo. I have always been Soundwave.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Listening With No Intent to Reply

**Author's Note:**

> A character study of my favorite Decepticon, the third-in-command, the Spymaster. Seriously, I love Soundy a lot. <3

I am Soundwave.

It is the name my Sire gives me in honor of his lost mate. I have always been the echo. 

When my Carrier cries aloud in her agony, in her last breath, I turn it back on her. She is my frequency the day I am deemed a living sparkling. 

Because that frequency is lost that day, I speak with the voices of others. I have always been the echo.

When my Sire commands I mask myself for heartbreak I do not— _cannot_ feel, I turn it back on him. He is my frequency when the mask comes down and seals my face into perpetual shadow.

Because that frequency abandons me only one orn later, I speak with the voices of others. I have always been the echo.

When I fight a gladiator, Megatronus, and he gives me his respects when I nearly best him, I turn it back on him. He is my frequency the day that trust is earned.

Because he finds another echo, young Orion Pax, I speak with the voices of others. I have always been the echo.

When I first meet a med student called Ratchet, who smiles and clasps my hand with vigor, I do not turn it back on him. I listen first as he speaks of Orion with warmth and eventually turn it back on him, but only him. He is my frequency for the sake of _our_ bond—I do not trust Orion.

Because Ratchet in turn does not seem to trust Megatronus, I speak with the voices of others. I have always been the echo. 

When the Council of Cybertron denies Megatron's demand for the title of Prime and asks why I still follow him, I do not turn anything back on them—except my physical back. Those whose voices hold no place in my spark hold no frequency.

Because the Council shames me for my decision, I speak with the voices of others. I have always been the echo.

When Pax becomes Prime and begs for me to listen to reason, I turn it back on him. He is my frequency as I urge him to trust Megatron's judgment and join our uprising. 

Because he refuses and hypnotizes others into standing against us, dear friend Ratchet included, I speak with the voices of others. I have always been the echo. 

When there is war and fire and pain and death that I help engineer, I turn it back on itself. Information pours to me with the energon I take from others. It is my frequency as Megatron slowly destroys Cybertron.

Afterward, Megatron remains. Prime remains. Ratchet remains. I remain. I grieve for us—angrily, soundlessly. I am my frequency as I futilely try to remember what I look like beneath the irremovable mask, beneath the sigil that signifies my servitude to the darkness. 

Because I grieve so deeply, I speak with the voices of others. I have always been the echo...

And the grief of an echo is never heard by any but the emptiness through which it travels.

I am Soundwave. 

...Can anyone hear me?

 


End file.
